Fuelling public service corruption with unpaid retirees benefits

Retirement, which in other parts of the world is usually a phase of life with a sense of contentment and happiness, is a nightmare in Nigeria. Workers in the public service in the countries in the country retired without being paid pensions and gratuities for about ten years. Many collapsed and died in endless queues, while undergoing a series of verifications and documentation to pay for their rights. The violence perpetrated in the 36 states of the federation has not only affected pensioners, but thousands of family members and dependents. As a result, many lives and dreams have been destroyed beyond redemption.

The neglect has reached a new level with judges joining the league of terror, so much so that the matter is on the agenda of the meeting of the National Judicial Council (NJC), presided over by the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Olukayode Ariwoola. States pay the salaries of retired judges, while the NJC oversees the payment of salaries during their service. The NJC has condemned the state government for failing to pay the benefits of judges, which it stressed, “Violates the rule of law and Section 6 of the Constitution.” Consequently, the Chief Justice is directed to submit a report on compliance with payments by the state no later than April 1. These deviations in public services do not help the drive to eviscerate corruption from the system. Solving it has become an urgent matter of national importance.

At the right time such as May 1, Labor Day, these senior citizens, who have spent 35 years of life in active service to the country, and most of them are now in fragile health, demonstrate in front of the Government House and other places. draw public attention to their plight and gain their rights. Unfortunately, most of the time, they are sardonically dismissed by the tasks to fill them, as happened in the state in the south last year, where the governor said it was not related to politics.

In the South-West, the Union of Pensioners of Nigeria (NUP) of the zone said that a whopping N330 billion in pensions and gratuities is owed to its members by November 2022. The backlog dates back to 2012. The spokesperson of the Union, Olusegun Abatan, who disclosed this at the end of a recent meeting in Ibadan, said Osun State is the highest debtor at N145 billion in debt entitlements; Ondo, at N58 billion; Ogun, N55 billion; Ekiti, N40 billion; while Oyo owes pensioners N43 billion.

Abia pensioners who are concerned, when they protested on April 22, 2022, their pension arrears became 38 months, while gratuities have accumulated for 20 years. One of the protesters, Emeka Okezie, pleaded, “We are asking the government to help us before we die.” Workers in Rivers State, during the 2022 May Day rally, wore black to mourn the death of a retired friend. It is such a grave situation that the chairman of the Nigerian Labor Congress (NLC) in Rivers State, Mrs. Beatrice Ituba, lamented that the number of obituary notices in the pension union office will force anyone to cry for them.

In Kano State, the chairman of the NLC, Kabir Ado Minjibir, said that over N3 billion has been deducted from the monthly pension of meager pensioners from January 2021. The revelation came after a demonstration by distraught pensioners in October last year, outside. Government House, through the backlog of debt gratuities, in addition to deductions from and non-harmonization of pensions. In the same month, pensioners from the Local Government in Taraba State marched to the House of State Assembly to demand 10 years of arrears of pensions and gratuities due to them. The chairman of the group, Yohanna Ajiya, said many pensioners died because of their absence. It’s a cocktail of never ending woes!

Some may argue that lack of funding is responsible for the crisis. But the looting of public coffers, misappropriation of funds, and the immoral lavish lifestyles of elected and appointed public officials make the logic simple. It is enfeebled more by the fact that despite the windfall of cash for the nine oil producing countries in the Niger Delta, they are also embroiled in the pension mess. The presidential spokesperson, Garba Shehu recently announced that the affected states have received N625.43 billion received from the 13% oil derivation and other funds withheld by the previous administration. However, about N860.59 billion is still outstanding.

In fact, the situation of pensioners in Rivers State makes the problem very easy. The governor, Nyesom Wike, who blew the lid off the bonanza, only remembered the case when he joined politics for the party’s presidential ticket in mid-2022. The payment guidelines of the Director General of the Rivers State Pension Board, Ijeoma Samuel, stated: “We do not want a situation (where ) people who retire in 2020 will be paid first before people who retire in 2014. have implemented the principle of first pension, first paid.” More than 4,000 retirees in the batch of 2014. With the speed of the process, as seen on the first day, when the payment of each batch will be completed, before attending the 2020 cohort it is better to imagine.

In a country where there is no adequate social security or welfare policy for the elderly, the lack of interest in paying benefits to pensioners is inhumane and inhumane. Those still in the service who watch in dismay how their former comrades live in want, hunger, sickness, hopelessness and abandonment, will gain an incentive from the disease. They will immerse themselves in the miasma of corruption to make enough money for old age, thus creating an initiative for ethnic rebirth in public services, epitomized by the anti-corruption campaign of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offenses Commission (ICPC), just shadow boxing.

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Lamentation Post-retirement is why the Pension Reform Act 2004 came into existence and was amended in 2014. It provides for a contributory pension plan by employees and employers, and only exempted workers with less than four years to retire. Unfortunately, only a few countries have entered the system, which is an unfortunate development that shows that the current challenges will not be dismissed any longer.

This is a social policy wash that needs to be addressed urgently by state governors. It serves the cause of equity, social justice and human rights. To solve the problem of former judges, the NJC can take over pension payments through policy funding tweaks; while organized labor must re-strategize to make it happen for their former comrades. They deserve to live! Ironically, while retirement is feared in Nigeria, early or middle-aged retirees in the UK are now being lured back to work with incentives by the Rishi Sunak government to save the economy in a tailspin.

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Concerned with the paradox of neglecting retirees but providing a generous pension package after only eight years in office, the Social Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), in July 2022, sued the state governor for the funds budgeted for his predecessors. office, instead of also being an equal heir in time. Over N40 billion has reportedly been paid to 47 former governors in 21 states, who are also recipients of mansions in their home states, and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, plus a fleet of cars that are changed every four years and domestic staff to boot. This is just not fair.

This show of inequity and wanton accretion of public funds by some like this will continue to cause social convulsions in the Nigerian society. Therefore, it is not surprising that the Alliance Global Pension Report 2020, ranked Nigeria 64 out of 70 countries due to lack of pension system.